hi all, im looking for an overdrive for my 65 ford f250 with the 352, i herd that there was an OD clark 5 speed that would bolt up to my bell housing and all i would have to do would be maybe move the crossmember and fab up a mount, and maybe shorten the driveshaft or something, does anybody know what clark 5 speed this is? and if it does exist, how hard of a swap is it? thanks
like the ones powered by 361 or 391 FTs? would they have the same bell housing pattern as the FE seres? like my 352?
I'm sure it's been done, but wouldn't be my first choice. Those trannies are huge and weigh like 300 pounds. They use a larger clutch (12") and drive line too. Some have a funky shift pattern. The one in my F600 has a 2 piece bell housing(SAE?) that does not look anything like the pickup style. If you are dead set on it, I would try to find a derelict big truck and take the whole works from it...
The 280VO has a different input shaft,front bearing retainer and bolt patternthan the NP435,at least the one I had did.As was said,a different bellhouseing,flywheel and clutch is reqd.It is larger and heavier than a NP435. A better choice would be the OD version of the NP 540,which would be a bolt in.
Many of the old truck five speeds need to be double clutched to drive. Know what you are looking at before you spend your money.
The best option for a 5 speed behind an FE is still a Tremec TKO transmission and Quicktime Bellhousing. There are very few swaps that make sense since a 5 speed was never offered behind a FE except in a few heavy duty FT applications, and then the gear ratios are not what you want for a highway cruiser anyways. T5's can't handle the torque, and the later M5R2 (F150) and ZF (F250/350) 5 speeds have the integral bell housing that came in either Windsor (302 / 351) , Lima (460), and PowerStroke varieties, but no FE's. A good machinist could make an adaptor to go from the 460 to the FE housing, but starter location may be an issue. Good Luck.
Ive run several NP 540,542 transmissions behind SBC's,BBC's and a v-6 detroit in my kenworth motorhome. You dont need to double clutch the top 4 gears,they are full syncro.You cant power shift them,but you will NEVER break one in an F 250 either.Thats worth something.
Find a four over from a '74 or so Ford pickup. Known as Orion transmissions, they are a toploader 4 speed modified into an overdrive. Just avoid the aluminum SROD, they are crap. Lots were attached to FE's.
ok thanks guys i think ill keep an eye out for a 540 or 542 because i need the granny gear for towing and whatnot
The modified toploader came out in '78 in the F150 and E150. They were available with the 302,351, and 300 six. In 79 they were available only with the 302 and 300 six, as they were being torn up in the 351 application. I wore out 2 countershafts and 2 sets of bearings with my E150 300 six. They were never put behind an FE, as the FE was long gone by the time they were released.
the Fe started production in 1958 (332 and 352) and ran through at least 1975 (FT trucks-332, 361, and 391). That's 17 years, which is a pretty good run. Remember that emission rules were tightening in the mid 70's and there was a market demand for larger, higher torque engines in large cars and trucks. The small block (351) overlapped the FE / FT at the low end, as did the Cleveland 351 and its derivative 400, both of which were developed for emissions compliance (supposedly) and the 379 / 429/460 overlapped on the high end. Time and market creep made the FE/FT redundant. Also, tooling has a limited life. Why replace lines when there is an opportunity to consolidate on a more modern platform? The real looser was the 351/400. The market for relatively large engines in cars disappeared as front wheel drive was introduced, and the 302-351 Windsor engines were cheaper to produce, so the Cleveland derived engines only lasted about 13 years (1970-~1983 or 1984). People bitch about Ford engine family complexity, and compare them to Chevrolet with only 6 families between the late 50's and late 60's. Ford had 10 families in this period covering Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, While GM had, by my count, 17 different platforms in the same period, and Chrysler had 5, although it was a much smaller company.
The Jalopy Journal
